Knowing God

For the past two months I have been lecturing on the Second Chapter of Mesechet Chagiga. We have discussed at length the Talmud's parameters of a person's pursuit of knowledge of God, and have pursued understanding many fundamental Kabbalistic concepts expressed in the Talmud's Aggadic metaphors.
Part of the way through this endeavor I suggested a reason why the Talmud focuses on these topics in the midst of Tractate Chagiga. As this is a Tractate focused on visiting the Bais HaMikdosh (Temple) during the Shalosh Regalim and, as the Talmud puts it, seeing and being seen by God, it would only be natural that it would lead to one wondering about the nature of God. Towards the end of the tractate there is a discussion of some of the miracles that the pilgrims would see each time they come to the Temple, again inviting someone to wonder about how God interacts with the world and with humanity. The Talmud thereby deems it appropriate to then discuss the parameters of such wondering and exploring.
Fascinatingly, towards the end of this Talmudic discussion Rabbeinu Chananel, probably the most ancient Talmudic commentary we posses, makes it clear to us that all of the discussions about angels, heavens and other deeper paradigms of understanding are all still missing the essence of the true knowledge of God. He says, "Doing justice and righteousness towards others constitutes knowledge of God as it says in Jeremiah 22:16. Trying to understand what exists outside the Universe, is not."
This point hit home to me especially as we are only a few short days from Tisha B'Av and we are taught that it was a lack of caring for others that led to the Temple's destruction. Similarly, on Yom Kippur we read that fasting and banging the heart are not what bring about God's forgiveness, helping the oppressed and unfortunate does.
I would like to suggest that we all find time, especially on Tisha B'Av to help those less fortunate, and truly come to know God.